EPUB has been rapidly adopted as the open standard interchange and delivery format for eBooks and other digital publications based on XML and Web standards such as HTML and CSS. This talk will briefly explain the background of EPUB and the IDPF organization responsible for its standardization, and then focus in on EPUB 3, the forthcoming third major revision to EPUB. The talk will review the goals for EPUB 3, outline and demonstrate the major new features that it supports (rich media, interactivity, improved accessibility, more precise formatting, and more) and discuss the anticipated timeline for its finalization and adoption.

1. Introduc)on
to
IDPF
&
EPUB
Ebook
Lab
Italia
4
March
2011
Bill
McCoy

2. What
is
IDPF?
• Not
for
profit
Trade
and
Standards
organiza)on
with
over
175
members
from
25+
countries.
• All
working
together
to
advance
Digital
Publishing
Ecosystem
• Responsible
for
EPUB
Standard

3. What
is
EPUB?
• EPUB
is
the
interchange
&
delivery
format
for
digital
publica)ons
based
on
Web
Standards
• EPUB
enables
structured,
accessible
content,
interoperable
between
devices
&
applica)ons,
for
downloaded
and
online
consump)on
• Standard
developed
by
IDPF
since
1999
(OEBPS
1.x
became
EPUB
2.0
in
2007)
• EPUB
=
XHTML
content
with
naviga)onal
structure
&
metadata,
in
a
ZIP-­‐based
package

4. EPUB
Emphasis:
Dynamic
Layout
Content paginated “on the fly”
based on screen size,
resolution, user font size
preferences, …
4

5. EPUB
Industry
Adop)on
Timeline
2010
-­‐
Apple
iBooks
2009
-­‐
25+
eReaders
-­‐
Google:
1M
PD
EPUBs
-­‐
Sony
store
to
EPUB
-­‐
25+
smartphone
apps
2008
-­‐
B&N
Nook
-­‐
Most
Kindle
sales
from
)tles
ingested
as
EPUB
-­‐
AAP
endorses
-­‐
UK
PA
endorses
-­‐
EPUB
3
WG
chartered
2007
-­‐
EPUB
standardized
-­‐
Adobe
Digital
Edi)ons
-­‐
Adobe
InDesign
-­‐
Sony
Reader

6. EPUB
3
Working
Group
chartered
May
2010
with
ambi)ous
goals
• Expand
EPUB
applicability
for
global
content
• Improvement
for
complex,
interac)ve,
media-­‐rich
)tles
–
Textbooks,
STM,
magazines
• Increase
Web
Standards
alignment
(HTML5)
• Improve
EPUB
conformance
&
accessibility
IDPF
WG
has
been
global
in
scope:
over
100
ac)ve
par)cipants,
F2F
mee)ngs
in
NYC,
SF,
Taipei,
Sapporo
IDPF
on
Feb.
14th
published
the
first
Public
Drae
of
EPUB
3
for
public
review
and
trial
use
EPUB
3
is
on
track
to
reach
Proposed
Drae
in
May
2011,
with
member
approval
vote
to
follow

7. EPUB
3:
General
Enhancements
– Core
content
based
on
XHTML5
– Enhanced
global
language
support
(ver)cal
wri)ng,
wri)ng
direc)ons)
– Styling
&
layout
enhancements
– Improved
metadata
capabili)es
– MathML
support
– Founda)on
for
cross-­‐document
links
and
annota)ons

8. EPUB
3:
Rich
Media
Enhancements
• Video
&
audio
support
• Audio
can
be
synchronized
with
text
• Embedded
font
support
a
baseline
requirement
• Improved
SVG
support
• JavaScript
support

9. Beyond
EPUB
3.0
• Modular
development
of
new
EPUB
capabili)es
– Dynamic
templates
– Dic)onary
schema
– Annota)ons
and
advanced
cross-­‐document
linking
– Security
/
rights
management
capabili)es
• Increase
focus
on
the
“whole
product”
– Test
suites,
cer)fica)on
– Valida)on
programs
– Open
source
implementa)ons
– Educa)on
&
training
• Promo)ng
global
adop)on
– ISO-­‐level
standardiza)on
– Improve
alignments
with
other
digital
publishing
organiza)ons

10. Summary
• EPUB
3
is
taking
the
EPUB
standard
to
a
new
level
• EPUB
3
is
an
incremental
step,
not
the
des)na)on
– We
don’t
know
what
the
“book/magazine
of
the
future”
will
be
so
we
can’t
hard-­‐wire
for
one
par)cular
embodiment
of
content
&
experience
– EPUB
is
an
“innova)on
plamorm”
–
enabling
you
to
effec)vely
distribute
many
kinds
of
content
experiences,
via
a
wide
variety
of
channels
– IDPF
is
kicking
off
modular
development
of
addi)onal
EPUB
capabili)es
and
you
are
invited
to
get
involved!

11. For
More
Informa)on
• EPUB
3
specifica)on:
hqp://idpf.org/epub/30
• Email
me:
bmccoy@idpf.org